The role of the Multi Disciplinary Approach for high risk lung cancer patients | Lung Cancer Nursing UK

The role of the Multi Disciplinary Approach for high risk lung cancer patients

Tuesday 21st January, 18:00 - 19:00

To start our 2025 webinar series we have Vasileos Kouritas, Consultant in Thoracic Surgery, to share his knowledge and expertise of the role of the multi disciplinary approach for high risk lung cancer patients.

Learning outcomes for this webinar:

  • Understand the term “high risk” in Lung cancer surgery patients
  • Describe the pathways and practices involved in the treatment of the “high risk” patients in Lung cancer surgery in the UK
  • Familiarize with the necessity of establishing a multidisciplinary approach to the surgical treatment of “high risk” lung cancer patients
  • Determine the different specialties participation in the formation of the “high risk” meeting
  • Describe the outcomes of “high risk” lung cancer patients discussed at an established “high risk” meeting
  • Explore future directions and opportunities from endorsing a “high risk” meeting in the surgical practice of lung cancer patients

Chaired by Charlotte Smith, all healthcare professionals are welcome to join this webinar and to participate in the Q&A session that will follow the presentation.

We are grateful to AstraZeneca UK Limited for sponsoring this webinar. It has been developed by LCNUK, and AstraZeneca has had no input into the development, content or production of this material.

If you wish to learn more about AstraZeneca’s lung cancer brands please reach out to your local AstraZeneca Oncology Account Manager.

Speaker(s)

  • Vasileios Kouritas

    Consultant in Thoracic Surgery, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
    Mr Kouritas is a Consultant in Thoracic Surgery at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals, NHS Foundation Trust, Norwich, United Kingdom. His area of expertise includes amongst others Lung cancer, pleural and mediastinal pathology, chest wall and diaphragm surgery with a special interest in Robotic-Assisted Thoracic Surgery. Mr Kouritas is leading the department’s robotic surgery program and has switched to solely robotic surgery since June 2021.

    Mr Kouritas has a special interest in the emphysema work and has participated in the establishment of the service in the Trust. He performs Endobronchial valve insertion and Lung Volume Reduction surgery.

    Mr Kouritas is actively involved with clinical and basic research. His PhD thesis involved basic research on pleural physiology. He has published numerous research publications on pleural transportation and physiology, as well as their extrapolation to animal models. He has participated in the writing of a relevant chapter in Shield’s Textbook of Thoracic Surgery amongst other chapters in books. He has also numerous clinical publications on different aspects of thoracic and thoracic surgery pathology. He is serving as the research lead of the Thoracic Surgery department.

    Mr Kouritas is participating in numerous leadership and quality improvement projects within his department and organization after completing a master’s degree in business administration. Some of these projects include the high – risk MDT implementation and the implementation of a nurse – led clinic in the practice of the department.

    Mr Kouritas acts as co-editor in numerous journals and has recently been appointed as an EACTS Thoracic Domain member and a member of the ESTS Robotic Working Group.

  • Charlotte Smith

    Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust - Nurse Consultant in Lung Cancer
    I am a Nurse Consultant specialising in Lung Cancer within the Department of Respiratory Medicine at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. This is a new role at this trust, and I have enjoyed the new challenges developing this role in the best way to support lung cancer patients over the past year and recently became the Deputy Lung Cancer Lead in the trust.

    I have specialised in Thoracic Malignancies for 10 years with experience working with Thoracic Surgery, Oncology and Respiratory medicine. This gives me in depth knowledge about the lung cancer pathway and I can support and educate patients in each step of their journey. This includes working at The Royal Papworth Hospital, Addenbrookes Hospital, Guy's & St Thomas Hospital in London, who all have a large lung cancer service. I also travelled to Paris to work at Georges Pompidou European Hospital, and learned about the lung cancer care they provide, and travelled to Brazil (Sao Paulo, Campinas) to learn about enhanced recovery after Thoracic Surgery including holistic treatments for lung cancer pain.

    I have a Nurse Consultant lung cancer clinic once a week providing patients with a new diagnosis, and I have been able to set up a lung nodule clinic once a week with a lung nodule MDT once a month.

    I am proud to be on the LCNUK Committee where I continue to learn and gain new experience and share ideas. I am part of the steering group for the Targeted Lung Health Checks (TLHC) team planning to start the lung screening in Norfolk for 2024.

    One of my strong passions is the lung cancer pathway - I participate in managing the pathway to reduce the time from referral to treatment.

    I have been working closely with the Lung Cancer CNS team and I am looking forward to the NNUH Lung Cancer CNS team getting their hard work and passion for patient care out there. Most importantly as a team we have set up a face-to-face support group for our patients that has proved to be very beneficial, and we managed to raise enough money to have a Christmas meal out with a total of 30 people attending. It was a very special event, and we will carry this on throughout the new year ahead.